The Afghan government on Monday rejected the reports about the proposed interim administration in Kabul as part of the peace efforts with the Taliban armed group.

President Ghani’s office Spokesman Mohammad Haroon Chakhansoori said that the government is committed for the April 2019 presidential elections and that rumors about the formation of a new interim government in Kabul or delay in coming elections are “baseless”.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. envoy for peace in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad briefed President Ghani regarding his second trip to regional countries and his meeting with the Taliban representatives in Qatar.

Describing his regional trip as “positive”, Khalizad said that the United States would continue its efforts for starting of an intra-Afghan dialogue, adding that the U.S. would play more of a supporting role in the talks with the Taliban.

According to Khalilzad, the conditions are ready for peace negotiations more than at any time in the past.

Thanking Khalilzad for his efforts in the Afghan peace process, Ghani said that peace is the essential need of the Afghan people and it will remain one of the government’s top priority.

This comes as the Taliban in a statement also rejected the reports of proposed interim government, saying that their representatives had 3-day long preliminary talks with the U.S. envoy in Qatar and that in the meeting no agreement was reached on any issue.

President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani met with ambassadors and representatives of stakeholder nations and institutions at Presidential Palace on Monday afternoon to discuss the Afghan government’s preparation for upcoming Geneva conference on Afghanistan.

The President’s office in a statement said that Ghani thanked the ambassadors and representatives for their help in organizing the conference.

As cited in the statement, the president said that it gives Afghanistan and its partners an opportunity to lay out gains and achievements of the first half of transformation decade, and discuss challenges lying ahead.

President Ghani reaffirmed that Afghanistan is in the process of transforming from a financially-dependent nation to a partner nation.

This comes as Geneva conference is expected to be held on November 27-28 aimed at showing the solidarity of the international community with the Afghan people and the government in their efforts for peace and prosperity.

The Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) has invalidated ballots of 174 polling stations, insisting that it has addressed 80 percent of the registered complaints and that 119 cases have been referred to judiciary institutions in this regard.

The IECC had registered over 12,000 complaints regarding the last month’s chaotic parliamentary elections. The commission on Monday said that it has addressed more than 10,000 complaints so far and that has invalidated ballots of 174 voting stations.

“There is no assurance that we could be able to accurately address all of the received complaints,” Said the IECC Spokesman Ali Reza Rohani.

The IECC, meanwhile, said that it has fired 14 election employees mostly the staff members of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and that referred 119 complaint cases to the Attorney General Office.

The IECC stressed that it will only accept the ballots which have passed through the biometric process.

Hafizullah Hashimi, a member of the IEC, however, said that the IECC provincial offices are “interfering” beyond their job responsibilities and that the IEC will not allow them to continue acting like this.

This comes as the IEC is expected to announce the preliminary results of the parliamentary elections from all provinces except Kabul on November 23, and reveal the results from Kabul on the first day of December.

The advisory board which will advise the government and High Peace Council (HPC) on peace efforts will be formed this week, the deputy head of Junbish-e-Milli party said on Monday.

Since last week, President Ashraf Ghani has met with a number of political figures including former President Hamid Karzai, First Vice President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, Hezb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, members of the Jamait-e-Islami party and Former Jihadi leader Abdulrab Rasul Sayyaf.

The president’s meetings come as part of the government’s efforts to form an advisory board which will facilitate peace negotiations with the Taliban.

“The President and First Vice President have met each other. They talked about the peace process and formation of an advisory board mostly comprised of political figures and members of national assembly & High Peace Council,” Abdullah Qarloq, the deputy head of Junbish-e-Milli party said.

According to Qarloq, the advisory board will be formed this week ahead of the Geneva conference on Afghanistan which is scheduled to take place on November 27-28.

The President’s office did not regarding the expected members of the board yet, but a day earlier President Ghani said that the board will not be a parallel organization to High Peace Council but rather an “inclusive board” which will advise the government and HPC on issues of national significance including peace.

The U.S. President Donald Trump defended his administration’s decision to stop hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Pakistan, saying that the country does not do “a damn thing” for the United States.

Speaking in an interview with Fox News Trump said: “We give Pakistan $1.3 billion a year… [Bin Laden] lived in Pakistan, we were supporting Pakistan, we were giving them $1.3 billion a year — which we do not give them any more, by the way. I ended it because they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a damn thing for us.”

Washington believes that Islamabad is granting safe haven to insurgents as it “helped terror leader Osama Bin Laden hide there,” who are waging a 17-year-old war in neighboring Afghanistan, a charge Pakistan denies saying the country also been a victim of terrorism.

Trump stressed that Pakistan has done very little to assist the U.S. in its ‘War on Terror’, despite receiving billions of dollars aid from the U.S.

This comes as, in September, the Pentagon canceled $300 million aid to Pakistan that had been suspended due to Islamabad’s perceived lack of action against militants.

Malistan district in central Ghazni province has been cleared of militants, following the Afghan military forces air and ground operations in the province, the Interior Ministry confirmed Sunday.

Najib Danish, the Interior Ministry Spokesman said that the Afghan commandos, police special forces and NDS units are already engaged in air and ground operations against the insurgents from two directions to clear Jaghori district as well.

Danish added that dozens of militants have been killed and several others wounded in the operations.

According to the official, two units of the local army have been set to maintain the security of these two districts and more than 600 people as part of uprising forces have been assigned for the security of their regions after receiving military training.

President Ashraf Ghani assures that the advisory board is being formed as part of peace efforts and will not be a parallel organization to the High Peace Council.

Speaking to HPC leadership and members on Sunday at the Presidential Palace, Ghani reiterated that the advisory board will not be a body parallel HPC, but rather an “inclusive board” which will advise the gov’t and HPC on issues of national significance including peace.

The president also said that the ongoing talks and consultations are taking place for an intra-Afghan dialogue.

The remarks come days after President Ghani announced that it will establish a country-wide consultative board to advise the government and High Peace Council on the peace process.

The U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation hopes to cement a peace agreement with Taliban armed group before the presidential elections in April 2019.

Speaking to journalists on Sunday in Kabul, Khalilzad said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban. He said expecting a breakthrough until April of 2019.

Khalilzad also said that the end state of the talks would be “peace and a successful Afghanistan, one that doesn’t pose any threats to itself and to the international community.”

The U.S. diplomat visited Kabul days after holding talks with the Taliban delegation for the second time in Qatar.

Citing a Taliban official and an individual close to the group, the Associated Press reported that the Taliban held three days of talks with Khalilzad in Qatar.

According to the report, the talks included Khairullah Khairkhwa, the former Taliban governor of Herat, and Mohammed Fazl and a former Taliban military chief.

]]>Ghani Meets General Dostum to Discuss Peace Effortshttps://ariananews.af/ghani-meets-general-dostum-to-discuss-peace-efforts/
Sun, 18 Nov 2018 12:31:48 +0000https://ariananews.af/?p=283875President Ashraf Ghani met with his First Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum as part of his peace efforts on Sunday afternoon, the Presidential Palace said in a statement.

According to a statement released by Ghani’s Office, the President has thanked General Dostum for his views, saying that his consultative meetings will continue with all political and influential figures regarding the establishment of an advisory board.

Ghani has reiterated that peace is a national process that needs national consensus.

The two sides have also exchanged their views about the security situation in the north of the country.

During the last couple of days, President Ghani has held meetings with different politicians and political parties and discussed with them functions of the advisory board and composition of the negotiating team with the Taliban.

Earlier today, in a meeting with leadership and members of the High Peace Council (HPC), Ghani said that the advisory board will not be a parallel organization to HPC, but rather an inclusive board which will advise the government and HPC on issues of national significance.

At least 36 Taliban militants were killed and 38 others injured during clearance operations conducted by Afghan army commandos in Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province, the Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) said on Sunday.

According to a statement released by MoD, a local Taliban commander identified as Sardar Wali was also among the deaths.

This comes two days after the Office of the National Security Council of Afghanistan announced that the Afghan security forces have been instructed to increase raids against the Taliban across the country in a bid to ensure the safety of the people and reduce the casualties of the security forces.

In reaction to the statement, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban group rejected the news and called it as baseless.